Scale? & should that really measure that much

[kstrong]

I don't see the "looks right" crowd ever going away. I think the days of that being the motivating force behind proportioning a model are long gone (LGB excepted). Manufacturers now know they can build a model to a specific scale and please many more people. At the same time, they've still got the tooling for the older "off-scale" models, so they'll keep building them as long as they sell.

I think the thing to watch is how the definition of "looks right" changes with each individual modeler over time. For some, it never does. They're content to buy items off the shelf and run them in the garden without regard to scale or really any other factor. This is by far the easiest way to get enjoyment out of the hobby, and by and large the reason most folks get into this hobby. Others' tastes refine over time to the point where they not only look at proper scale before purchasing a model, but era, and purpose as well. "Looks right" now means a small industrial 0-4-0 with a string of wood hoppers, where it used to mean a GP-9 with wood flat cars and Gunderson double stacks. Being in this camp makes it much easier to resist temptation in the hobby shop, that's for sure. The word "maturing" is frequently used to describe this process. I think it's more of a self-realization than anything else. The word "mature" implies a hierachy that doesn't really exist in garden railroading, certainly not to the extent it does in the smaller scales. Of course, some would also call it "the road to insanity," but that's a story for another time.

Later,

K

[vsmith]

Personally I find Bachmann metal wheels work best, fit virtually everything, and are inexpensive. USA wheels axles are too wide and only fit USA cars.

Kim, You've hit on one of my personal pet peeves in large scale, that almost NOTHING is to "To Scale". Namely Bachmann's Spectrum engines are supposed to be 1/20.3, yet there freight and passenger cars were made to 1/22.5, I DONT CARE what there boxs say NOW, they can cry out to the Moon that there freight cars are 1/20.3 all they want, but there made from the SAME original 1/22.5 molds from several years ago! The 4-6-0 Annie was NEVER 1/22.5 more closer to a 1/24 version of a standard gauge engine. HLW's stuff is closer to 1/24. Aristo never had narrow gauge, there C-16 was a standard guage version at 1/29, 1/29 is a WAY off scale intentional screw up on Aristos part to give there models more Umph! visually over TRUE 1/32 scale trains.


Its a F*cking mess, every one knows it. If you want to be a absolute to scale Rivet Counter, then you'll be scratchbuilding almost everything you own or spending thru the nose for high end scale models. Otherwise, like you and me, you adopt a "built to a scale of 1/20-looks about right " attitude. If the trains LOOK realistic, dont sweat the minor scale descrepancies or you'll go stark raving loony-tunes over it. I have said before, Dont expect manufacturers to listen to us, I am more convinced that ever that manufacturers are ignoring what the consumers want and demand. Why I dont know? But it is a fact of life for us doing narrow guage.

[Anonymous]

Kim

I bought total metal where you can even make them pick up wheels @ 9.95 and they are nice!
Problem is I don't know where the ole man got them. I think Walthers.

Heck I will send you a set of 4 see if you like them.
I should check Walthers to see if that is where he got them.

[Anonymous]

Hi Bill,

I've replaced the wheels in my engineers car with Bachmann ones from a coach and it runs great. I've asked my local shop to order up some Bachmann ones, but I'm not holding my breath. Price wise they said about £9 to £10, not to bad.

Cheers mate,
Kim
[tup]

[Anonymous]

Kim

After I noticed several doing the metal wheels I thought that wsa great, now I not to sure about it.
Did I make a small <very large> mistake in buying a box of metal wheels?

Note: when my friend was showing me G Scale he added you can never have enought wheel sets and kadee couplers. Well I have them and will stick with both of these.

That small shop I have really has nothing for me but they sell MTH, RailKing and in this winter catalog they now have steel wheels...so I poped one out of the box to inspect.
Nice design, because the 1st MTH I had seen did not impress me at all.
Then I asked price......$80.00ish USD ($63.91 euro).

[Anonymous]

Hi guys,

Reading Ians 'low point' just now so I thought that it would be a good time to get this hot potato out of the oven. What is scale? I firmly believe in the 'if it looks right then it must be right' school of railways but I do think that the manufacturers con us with their offerings. I currently have in my stable goods and passenger from Bachmann/USA,/Aristo and loco's from Bachmann/USA + a scratch built based on an LGB mallet chassis.
The Bachmann Connie I can believe is 1:20.3 but no way the Jackson Sharp coaches. The centre cupola caboose looks 1:20.3 but not the gondola, which matches quite well with the Aristo gon based plough. The USA pipe flat looks bigger than most other things on the railway whilst the USA work series engineers car is the same width as everything else, but slightly larger than the Bachmann box car which is supposed to be 1:20.3! The LGB drovers caboose looks quite at home with everything else that's there so who's conning who? Whilst we're at it, USA - PUT METAL WHEELS ON YER WAGONS!!![soapbox][banghead]
That feels better,
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

And whilst I'm having a good old moan, that there USA pipe flat is a super bit of kit except they must have run out of pipe and had to go down to the nearest DIY shop to buy some. The pipe has a full bar code printed on it together with all the descriptive writing that goes with it, size, for drinking water etc etc. The pipe has been glued into a position so that all of this is visible, easily painted out but a darn nuisance.
Now that definately feels better...............did I mention METAL WHEELS?!!!!